It seems almost incredible, but 61 percent of African-American boys living in Baltimore, Maryland fail to finish high school, and 50 per cent end up in jail. Can a radical upheaval of the lives of four young boys change the course of their future?

This Emmy-nominated film follows four 12 to 13-year-old boys from the drug and crime-ridden streets of Baltimore - home of hard-hitting drama The Wire - as they are sent, with 16 other inner-city black youths, to an experimental boarding school... in Kenya. Founded by the private Abell Foundation in 1996, the Baraka School was designed to give 'at-risk' African-American boys a chance to learn and develop personally in an environment far removed from their troubled neighbourhoods.

For young boys who have only ever experienced the city Africa is a daunting place. Soon, however, they begin to revel in the chance to behave like children again, and a glimmer of hope for their futures begins to emerge.